posted at 10:31 am on January 29, 2013 by Allahpundit

I’m sticking with what I wrote yesterday, that Obama’s insistence on giving a big left-wing speech about immigration is really just a way to make the Senate bill look “moderate” by comparison. He has to walk a fine line in praising the bill to keep skittish Democrats on board while criticizing the enforcement parts so that skittish Republicans can sell it to their supporters as being “too conservative for Obama.” I think that’s what he’s up to today in Vegas, but you never know with The One. The urge to fatally polarize this issue by attacking Republicans in front of a microphone might simply be too great. A friend in politics e-mailed last night with the subject line “HAHAHAHAHA” linking to this piece, which describes how Obama “does not favor linking legal status to border security,” i.e. that he wants to get work on citizenship for illegals ASAP. My friend’s take: “Obama either wants a bill to fail so that he can continue clubbing Republicans as intransigent, or he can’t help himself effing up the process.” C’mon. Could O really be so stupid as to refuse the GOP’s insane offer to add millions more Democratic voters to the rolls via a path to citizenship? We’re about to find out, my friends.

Needless to say, after his snotty digs at Republicans in his inaugural, tone will be key:

“We see the Senate principles as a centrist set of principles, but we expect the administration to be more detailed to the left,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, a leading immigration advocacy group. “I don’t think it’ll be an immigration advocate’s dream, but it will be a solid left-of-center proposal.”…

Immigration advocates said they expect Obama to be forceful in his public remarks Tuesday and offer details that go beyond the blueprint on the White House Web site. But there are risks for the president, who has accused Republicans of opposing his initiatives to avoid giving him political credit.

If Obama’s speech in Las Vegas, in a state with a growing number of Hispanic voters, is too tri­umphant or too hectoring, he could risk alienating Republicans whose support will be necessary, some lawmakers have said. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned Obama against delivering a “divisive, partisan speech.”

While some might view Obama’s insertion into the debate as a “poison pill,” my guess is it will benefit Rubio by allowing him to attack Obama — and simultaneously push the senate’s more prudent framework. One possibility is that this could help highlight the conservative principles Rubio has been fighting to include in the deal.

And it couldn’t come at a better time. Rubio is going on Rush Limbaugh today to talk about his plan. Now — thanks to Obama — Rubio will likely spend most of his time talking about the differences between Obama’s amnesty plan and Rubio’s alternate plan (where border security and other conditions must be met prior to citizenship).

Again: Is that O’s whole strategy here, to let Republicans use him as a punching bag in order to make it easier to sell the big legalization effort to skeptical conservatives? Or is he actually trying to sabotage the bill so that he can go on kicking Republicans as obstructionist? One point in favor of the latter theory is that yesterday’s joint presser with McCain, Schumer, Rubio et al. to announce the Senate bill wasn’t originally scheduled for Monday. As of last weekend, per WaPo, they were planning to announce their agreement “as early as next Friday,” February 1. Why’d they move it up to Monday? Because, according to Politico, The One was evidently prepared to bigfoot the entire effort by giving his immigration speech today whether or not the McCain gang had announced anything of its own yet. Which is insane: If O had gone first on this, it would have been branded the “Obama immigration push” and the McCain gang’s proposals would have been dismissed as an afterthought or as a mere derivative of O’s plan. And yet the White House was prepared to risk that. Keep looking that gift horse in the mouth, champ.

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That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

We must exhaust the conventional means afforded to us. I fought this battle in 2007. NumbersUSA is by far the best tool we have.

The president’s answer to everything is to get on a plane and jet somewhere else, anywhere else, and give campaign speeches about whatever the topic of the day is. Today’s excuse is immigration reform. Cost to us? At least $1.6 million for the day. The DAY. I hope the flies find him again.

I think your friend is right Mr. Pundit. Obama isn’t worried about elections years from now with increased Hispanic voters. He’s thinking about 2014 and wants a Dem house. I expect him to attack Rubio and the Republicans in hopes that they will walk away….ala the tax issue.

To explain Obama’s actions here you have to look at what he covets…(I quote Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs). What Obama covets is to be historic, transformational, a BFD (to quote Joe Biden). That’s why he pushed ObamaCare and willingly rode congressional Dems off a cliff. Whether or not the “transformation” is beneficial to the country is irrelevant to Obama. I truly don’t think Obama is a ideological leftist, he is just a narcissist and completely ruthless in pursuing his own personal narrative…the liberal Reagan. That is why he will ultimately fail. He has achieved nothing in the last three years and needs to win back the House in 2014 to have a second shot.

The one transformational thing Obama might get in his second term is an immigration bill. But it has to be the OBAMA immigration bill, not the Ryan/McCain/Schumer bill. That’s why he’s inserting himself in the process at the eleventh hour to try and take it over. I think he was caught flat-footed by how fast the Senate has moved on this without him. By doing this he jeapordizes a delicate political process. But that’s what narcissists do, if they are not the center of attention they take the football and go home.

Obama is taking a big risk here I think. It also shows how we can beat him…by being the party of reasonable compromise and not dig our heels in. A case in point is the Bush immigration bill of 2007. Conservatives dug their heels in and that made it easy for liberals like Obama to sink the bill. Here we are now 6 years later and the same legislation will be passed but by a Democrat president while we are less popular with Latinos than ever before.

My guess, he just cannot help going after Republicans, and he doesn’t have any real interest in immigration. Contrary to popular belief, it wouldn’t really help democrats all that much. Even if eleven million illegals were made legal overnight, roughly only half of them would become active voters are most. Of those, the bulk live in California, which is already a hardcore blue state. The rest are spread out enough that they offer no significant electoral collage advantage.

Conversely, the immigration issue is something democrats use not only to galvanize Hispanic turnout, but also to demonize Republicans among other voting blocks. It’s a handy tool, and losing it may be very harmful to democrats. Thus, why democrats constantly beat the drum about immigration, but never take serious steps to address it one way or the other.

I should note, this is not an endorsement of amnesty, just my read on the mindset of the left when it comes to this issue.

Mr Permanent Campaign flogging the entire Presidential travel machinery to go speechify a a high school in Vegas for an hour and fly back to DC. All to propose amnesty and discard border security provisions in pending legislation. This is outrageous abuse of his office, ridiculous theatre using idiot children as props, and a breach of our separation of powers. The President’s duty is to act or not act on congressional legislation, not impose changes to the law by incessant campaigning at the public’s gross expense, not choose which laws to enforce or not defend, and not to rule by executive.
IMPEACH Obama for his corrupt misdemeanors and violations of his oaths re constitutional structures.

Obama voted against immigration “reform” while McCain was a leader on the issue yet Obama won the Hispanic vote in 2008. He won the Hispanic vote again in 2012 while doing nothing on immigration reform. It seems to me that Hispanics will vote for a Dem whether they are for or against immigration reform. So what does the GOP gain by selling out their base in the hope of getting Hispanic votes sometime in the future.I called Boehners office today and told him I was done with the GOP and would be voting third party if any amnesty passes.

I just got back from Cruz’s Houston office with a few other NumbersUSA people and the phone was ringing off the hook. We could barely talk to the staffer because he was putting people on hold and having to get back to them. You could even hear some people yelling through the phone. I told him that the grassroots in Texas has his (Cruz) back and to draw a line in the sand. I also heard Laura Ingraham say that opposition is starting to mount. This whole “enforcement” sham is being exposed for what it is.

This is why you should always be out front on an issue and be aggressive with a plan. For the last week everyone freaked out about what Rubio was doing. I was not. Why? Well I obviously have different opinions than many on here on the dangers of Latinos becoming African-Americans , in other words a 90-10% voting block, but there was another reason. You can’t keep letting Obama set the narrative. You can’t let him be the first to get his foot in the door. For the last two years people like Boehner kept running around saying “I want Obama to lead me”, and other stupid stuff like that. In the mean time Obama ran around the country setting the narrative while Boehner and Republicans always reacted and defended….never took the lead.

So Rubio took the lead on a issue, and for the first time Obama will be forced to react. His reaction, if it turns out to be true what is being reported, will be great. All the anti-immigration forces can now rejoice, there will be no immigration bill. Rubio will come out looking good, he got a bipartisan agreement, and Obama killed it. Republicans can now get cover from Rubio, if he is smart, when he comes out against Obama’s plan or any watering down of the agreement he thinks he has thus allowing them to vote against it. True immigration reform folks and others who care about this issue will feel Obama missed a chance. Some Latinos will start to question if they are being used (and remember all we need is some, not a majority…just some).

People, you have to learn strategy. Know your enemy. Obama is an ego manic. He can’t agree to anything unless it is “his” plan, not someone other guy’s plan, certainly not some guy who threatens his place as the multicultural icon with a wonderful story of a diverse America. Rubio, by design or not (and it don’t matter really), put enough rope into this agreement to allow Obama to hang himself.

This is why you must beat Obama to any issue, forcing him to show himself to be the ass we all know he is. You can’t do that if always are drawing lines in the sand. Even the media is going have a hard time covering this up forever. If every debate ends with, “I am Obama therefore give me what I want”. An opportunity has shown itself, now can Rubio and the GOP take advantage of it. Hopefully Boehner will not have another one on one with Obama. All that does it put Obama back in charge of the issue.

This isn’t sabotage, it’s part of the plan. Have you ever seen Chuck Schumer compromise on anything? He’s little m ore than a partisan hack so, if he can LOOK like he’s compromising, knowing the President isn’t going to let it happen, then he’s there. In fact, why did the Democrats have these people out there on this bill anyway? FOr the most part, they’re the mouthpieces so they’ll coordinate on messaging with the White House and quietly undermine the REpublican position.

I no longer trust the Democrats to do the right thing and I certainly don’t trust the press to report it. SO where are we? Sitting here with our necks out saying NO again, that’s where.

Here it comes. At one point in his career, Rush was schmoozed by the big shots, who then decided he was counterproductive when he didn’t jump on cue. The famous ‘Get Over It’ insult yelled at Rush was a turning point/

Over the years, Limbaugh has been a totally honest broker. In a few short years, Rubio has not.

Outside of this, I can’t think of a GOP “power broker” who has called into his show before Rubio did today… since President Bush called in several times throughout the 2000s. And of course Arlen Sphincter called in to respond to a Pat Toomey attack ad. The entire crop of 2012 candidates avoided him like the plague (for obvious reasons).

I have to be missing some people… am I not?

At least Rush is holding his own so far. If it ultimately goes badly for Rubio, this could break his 2016 chances three years before they even began.

He doesn’t give a crap about illegal aliens. He just wants another political opportunity to spit on the GOP. He will risk effing it up without hesitation.

Beyond that, he and the Left are eager to continue redistributing wealth and resources from the Haves to these lowly and deserving HaveNots out of “fairness” and the more the better….and to expand and strengthen a vast voting bloc of grateful recipients of our resources.

1. There are already enforcement laws on the books. They are not being executed.
If the illegals finally get amnesty, what is to keep the President enforcing border and immigration law

2. Only the President executes enforcement. If he does not enforce, or stops enforcing new ‘border security’ requirements, the only recourse is impeachment. Is the Senate going to impeach Obama if he does not enforce the so called security in the new bills

3. Once the illegals get their amnesty, even if only a green card, this will never berevoked – that is absolutely certain. So amnesty is irreversible, but border enforcement is reversible

4. Whatever the outcome, if Rubio continues his upward movement in the Senate GOP, which is by permission of the Club, he has already signalled he supports amnesty. If he runs for the Presidency, he has already signalled he will sign onto amnesty. What he would ‘enforce’ at the border cannot be tested, because he is not an executor, he is a legislator and has no track record of law enforcment. He now, however, has a brand new record of talking out of the side of his mouth on amnesty to gain tea party support

5. Rubio is working with McCain and Graham on this law. Those two worked before to trick the American public and sneak in amnesty twice. They are despicable con men who tried to defeat the American will. I do not think Rubio is so stupid he does not understand who his buddies are

Am I the only one that can’t bring themselves to care about the news anymore? It isn’t as if I don’t have concerns but it all feels so futile and only ends up making me angry. I’ve tuned out to a very large degree just for my own sanity.

I just listened to Rubio on Rush and he made the exact point I made. Obama and the Democrats are going to push immigration no matter what so you might as well do a preemptive strike before Obama can. That is all Rubio has done. All this talk of bipartisanship is just political candy and Rubio knows it. He said if the bill comes out bad on enforcement he will oppose it. That is his life boat to escape a sinking ship he probably knows was going to sink anyway. There is going to be no immigration bill folks, this about muddying the waters and getting the GOP (or in this case Rubio’s) narrative out there.

Some of you either are one dimensional thinkers or are so jaded you are convinced some grand conspiracy is taking place. For the first time someone actually did something proactive before Obama did and everyone is freaking out. In America you have to look like you will compromise, even if you are not really for compromise. Rubio has learned something from Obama. It is nice Rush can be for charging up every hill and fighting to the last man….he is a radio show host. He is not running for public office.

There is going to be no immigration bill folks, this about muddying the waters and getting the GOP (or in this case Rubio’s) out there.
William Eaton on January 29, 2013 at 1:42 PM

Problem: this was not Rubio’s position until after he got elected

Some of you either are one dimensional thinkers or are so jaded you are convinced some grand conspiracy is taking place. For the first time someone actually did something proactive before Obama did and everyone is freaking out. In America you have to look like you will compromise, even if you are not really for compromise. Rubio has learned something from Obama. It is nice Rush can be for charging up every hill and fighting to the last man….he is a radio show host. He is not running for public office.
William Eaton on January 29, 2013 at 1:42 PM

You play to your voters. In this case, Rubio changed his voter base. That is OK, but it did not work for McCain, or Romney, both of whom were not what a big part of the base wanted. If Rubio thinks he can carve out a new base, so be it.

Too bad Rubio lied to get elected

Rubio himself talks about the problem of trusting obama to enforce the borders. Here is the problem: Rubio himself just morphed against his own promises.

I would take a Hubert Humphrey, anyday, or a a Joe Lieberman, whom I could trust to be what they say they are

When I heard the last Rush call, referring to the need for new workers, I can only think of the millions of unemployed citizens. Are they going to get their places back, if green cards are handed out? As the green carders develop more tax burdens, they will be in the income mill, and new non tax paying illegals will displace them in the competitive underground

phew, Rush finally opened up
He played 1986(7?), schumer, Mccain, menendez (child hooker fame),allen simpson making exactly the same promises about securing the border, and deporting anyone after amnesty

Then Rush played cspan, 1987, simpson and richardson,

audience asked simpson if legalizing illegals will encourage more hoping a new amnesty bill will pass later down the road

simpson said – this would to remove subculture … how else do you weed them out? you would have to go on the hunt. No other alternative

richardson: have opportunity to give not amnesty, but a process- temporary, permanent to citizenship in five years, with sanctions so new illegals would not be given citizenship

then Rush opens up:
rush: we are being whipsawed,
yesterday: guns
today: amnesty
who are the bad guys: rule of law types
this is a diabolical attack on the underpinnings of the country

Agree completely
Just being the party of no is not enough
Apparently Hispanics and congressional Dems are pleading with Obama not to interfere
This must be a huge blow to his ego
Hopefully Latinos will figure out who they are dealing with.

BTW my wife is Guatemalan and her family detest Obama….they are small business owners
Latinos will never become like AA voters because they do not hate America
They’ll be like the Irish who initially belonged to the urban Dem machine before eventually producing Reagan
The process will just work faster with Latinos

I believe you are correct. I took a copy of your advice with appreciation. It is good to know there are many who see the smoke

It is rumored the bill is being staged to failed so the Right can be cast as anti hispanic (i.e. anti Mexican). I do not think so. They will take it if they can, but if they can’t they will lay it on the Right, and the GOP will lay it on the Tea Party, the enemy of both parties

Just heard McConnell say there is bipartisan agreement on the need for ‘immigration reform’. His joy will be to defeat such as ourselves
26 For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. JER 5:26

Obama is so un-American it makes me sick to my stomach that he is our President. How is it we as a nation have fallen so far? There should be a real fear where our King is taking us!

karlinsync on January 29, 2013 at 4:59 PM

The real fear should rest upon the under-30 crowd who have been brainwashed forever into accepting Socialism as a virtue. If Hitler was running for President, they’d vote for him because he’s a Democrat, and Democrats are cool.

The Worthless Generation will preside over the execution of the US as a whole, but they won’t care. Just as long as they get their free birth control for life.

I thought the Hispanic Caucus asked Obama not to introduce his own plan as that would sabotage bipartisan efforts.

Hera on January 29, 2013 at 10:55 AM

Obama’s speech this afternoon was a rope-a-dope. It was last minute reposturing brought on by members of his own party asking him to stay out of it, or asking him at least not to torpedo the bipartisan effort. He realized that he’d look bad if he torpedoed it now, so he put it off a week or two. The only thing that has changed is the timing.

It’s called the “DC Two Step”: Obama eggs on the assumed opposition (in this case, Rubio as representative of the flexible, used-car salesmanship of the GOP) and then the other side responds with indignation, then it goes on again and again and again until they suddenly melt into one big stage melding and, presto, they’ve dragged gullible voters into concluding one side, no, the other side, no, their side, no, theirs, no…has won.

I get the impression that Obama is just yelling out the lines from backstage to “allow” some in the GOP to drag the rest of the nation into Obama’s backstage.

Which is why I don’t now trust Rubio, just as I long ago concluded I didn’t trust McCain and Graham, nor their pal Ted Kennedy. Look at their actions for reasons to withhold trust.

At least we’re finding out now what and who Rubio is and not at two months before another national election when he’s the GOP nominee…

Obama is so un-American it makes me sick to my stomach that he is our President. How is it we as a nation have fallen so far? There should be a real fear where our King is taking us!

karlinsync on January 29, 2013 at 4:59 PM

The real fear should rest upon the under-30 crowd who have been brainwashed forever into accepting Socialism as a virtue. If Hitler was running for President, they’d vote for him because he’s a Democrat, and Democrats are cool.

The Worthless Generation will preside over the execution of the US as a whole, but they won’t care. Just as long as they get their free birth control for life.

Myron Falwell on January 29, 2013 at 6:08 PM

I agree with you both. Myron makes an accurate observation, unfortunately, about the dreadfully entrapped generation…

Is that O’s whole strategy here, to let Republicans use him as a punching bag in order to make it easier to sell the big legalization effort to skeptical conservatives?

Yes, I think it is.

However, I ALSO think it’s fruitless to try and analyze and then determine to any specific point what Obama’s strategy is on issues, because it’s more useful to face the reality that Obama’s strategy is to deface, defame and undo the U.S.A.

He’s enjoying his grand barbeque of this nation, one issue at a time. His goal is our demise.